


in other words

by Yuisaki



Series: when spring comes to me too [3]
Category: Given (Anime), Given (Manga)
Genre: Character Study, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 16:15:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21359056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuisaki/pseuds/Yuisaki
Summary: Three months into dating Mafuyu, here is some of the information that Ritsuka has collected about him:Mafuyu sleeps curled up into the tiniest ball imaginable. His knees draw up to his chest, and he wraps his arms around them as if he’s so cold he’ll never know warmth again. His expression isn’t sad exactly, but every so often he’ll sigh and shiver in his sleep and mumble something Ritsuka pretends not to hear. He loves napping in the sunlight.
Relationships: Satou Mafuyu/Uenoyama Ritsuka, Satou Mafuyu/Yoshida Yuuki
Series: when spring comes to me too [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1539766
Comments: 8
Kudos: 363





	in other words

Three months into dating Mafuyu, here is all of the information that Ritsuka has collected about him: 

  1. Mafuyu sleeps curled up into the tiniest ball imaginable. His knees draw up to his chest, and he wraps his arms around them as if he’s so cold he’ll never know warmth again. His expression isn’t sad, exactly, but every so often he’ll sigh and shiver in his sleep and mumble something Ritsuka pretends not to hear. He loves napping in the sunlight. 

  2. He has some sort of fixation with guitars. Maybe it’s because it’s the first time anything has caught his attention and kept it—aside from, well—but by the end of the first month the soft skin on the tips of his fingers have all been shredded to make room for rough calluses. Sometimes Ritsuka catches him prodding at it. He’s fascinated by the idea of calluses, and Ritsuka has no clue why. Ritsuka’s learned something from Mafuyu in this way, some fucked up exchange of information: Mafuyu learns the guitar, and Ritsuka learns what it’s like to watch injury bloom into something achingly gorgeous, into music. 

  3. Mafuyu once spent twelve hours tearing through all the songs on no less than thirty albums, clutching the neck of his red guitar the entire while, and then proceeded to etch out the main melody of their next song in ten minutes. The following day he got his arm stuck in the vending machine trying to grab a bag of chips. So he’s a genius who’s a little stupid. That’s okay, though. 

  4. Mafuyu looks like the type of person who carefully considers what he says before he says it, and it’s partially true, with all the time he spends in his head. But sometimes—

  5. One winter day. Mafuyu comes to school, and it’s as if he’s sleepwalking with those little sighs and shivers throughout class, and this is how Ritsuka comes to understand the face of Mafuyu’s grief. 

  6. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  7. Mafuyu doesn’t like to talk much. 

  8. “Can I do anything to help?”

  9. Mafuyu’s nose is almost always cold. He keeps pushing his face into the crook of Ritsuka’s shoulder anyway. 

  10. He adores Ritsuka’s playing the same way most people love. It’s different for Mafuyu, though.

  11. “I think if I ever heard Yuki play, it might sound something like this.”

  12. Sometimes Mafuyu really, really doesn’t think before he speaks. 

The last piece of information Ritsuka has collected, and maybe the most significant of all: In Mafuyu’s mind, Yuki is the fog of a slow exhale that disappears on a cold day—a ghost, in other words.

**

Three months into dating Ritsuka, here is all of the information Mafuyu has gathered about him:

  1. He sleeps normally. This comes as a surprise to Mafuyu when he wakes up in the morning to find himself still in Ritsuka’s bed, rather than, say, pushed up against the headboard or pressed into the wall or, perhaps, shivering on the hard floor. Ritsuka sleeps with one arm pillowed under his head instead of an actual pillow, though, which is pretty funny. 

  2. He might have an obsession with Mafuyu’s hands. “They’re so thin,” he’ll say, almost wondering, and Mafuyu will say, “Is this a hand kink, Ritsuka?” just to watch him splutter and flush. 

  3. For someone with such a—ah, what was the phrase —a resting bitch face, Ritsuka’s emotions are clearer than the neon lights in the district with all the sex motels. Or whatever they’re called. 

  4. He doesn’t think that Mafuyu is the type of person who knows what sex motels are. He thinks that a passionate kiss is pressing closed mouths against each other for longer than three seconds. He definitely has some sort of internal crisis whenever Mafuyu invites him over or hugs him or leans into his touch. He’s a little dense. Mafuyu’s kind of in love with him, though, so it’s okay. 

  5. Ritsuka is actually horrible with words. His body does all the talking for him—the twitch of his fingers when he wants to hold Mafuyu’s hand, the unconscious tapping of his foot when he’s itching to play, the desperate lines of his mouth drawn tight when he looks at Mafuyu like he’s drowning. 

  6. “I wish I was the first, I wish you could forget—“

  7. He gets jealous easily. 

  8. “But I. I just. How can I help you?”

  9. He approaches Mafuyu like a real science student would—in steps, beginning with a slow, careful arm around Mafuyu’s shoulders. Then tucking Mafuyu’s head under his chin. Carding through his hair, untangling the knots. Humming low and deep from his chest. He has to clear his throat a few times, choked as it is. But he starts again. He starts again. 

  10. “Are you jealous?”

  11. “No. Well. Maybe.”

  12. “I’m sorry.”

  13. “Don’t apologize. Just—sing for me, will you? That’s all I need.”

The last piece of information Mafuyu has gathered, and the most important of all: Ritsuka wants him to stay, and wants to stay. In other words, it’s love. 

**Author's Note:**

> i don’t know why i love writing about how yuki would affect mafuyu and uecchi’s relationship but it’s a thing of mine i guess! maybe one day i’ll write a given fic longer than 2k


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